Immigration to Spain
Immigration to Spain, which had been very low for much of the country's history, increased sharply in the early 21st century. In 1998, immigrants made up just 1.6% of the population, but by 2009, that figure had exceeded 12%. Following a decline during the economic crisis, immigration began to rise again after 2015, with a marked acceleration after 2021, with the foreign-born population reaching 19.87% of the total population as of October 2025.
As of 1 January 2024, the most recent date for which data are available by specific countries and regions, the foreign-born population in Spain represented 18.18% of the total population. Of these, 4.95% were born in other European countries, while the remaining 13.23% originated from outside Europe. The largest share of the non-European population came from South America, accounting for 6.95% of the total population, followed by those from Africa, Central America and the Caribbean, Asia, North America, and Oceania. Among them, 7,132,324 individuals did not hold Spanish citizenship. This places Spain as the
4th country in Europe in terms of immigrant population and the 7th worldwide.
During the early 21st century, the average year-on-year demographic growth set a new record with its 2003 peak variation of 2.1%, doubling the previous record reached in the 1960s when a mean year-on-year growth of 1% was experienced. In 2005 alone, the immigrant population of Spain increased by 700,000 people.
Spain accepted 478,990 new immigrant residents in just the first six months of 2022 alone. During these months, 220,443 people also emigrated from Spain, leaving a record-breaking net migration figure of 258,547. More women than men chose to move to Spain during 2022; this is due to higher rates of emigration from Latin America.
Currently
According to the United Nations, there were 5,947,106 immigrants in Spain in early 2018, 12.8% of the population of Spain. According to the Spanish government, there were 5.6 million foreign residents in Spain in 2010; independent estimates put the figure 14% of total population. According to the official 2011 census data, almost 800,000 were Romanian, 774,000 were Moroccan, 317,000 were Ecuadorian, 312,000 were British and 250,000 were Colombian . Other important foreign communities are Bolivian, German, Italian, Bulgarian, Chinese and Argentine. In 2005, a regularization programme increased the legal immigrant population by 700,000 people. Since 2000, Spain has experienced high population growth as a result of immigration flows, despite a birth rate that is only half of the replacement level.According to Eurostat, in 2010, there were 6.4 million foreign-born residents in Spain, corresponding to 14.0% of the total population. Of these, 4.1 million were born outside the EU and 2.3 million were born in another EU Member State.
As of 2005 Spain had the second highest immigration rates within the EU, just after Cyprus, and the second highest absolute net migration in the World.
Over 920,000 immigrants arrived in Spain during 2007, in addition to 802,971 in 2006, 682,711 in 2005, and 645,844 in 2004.
For nationalities outside of this category, in order to stay in Spain for more than 3 months, a residence card, residence visa or work permit is required.
Two distinct groups can be identified: those immigrants originating from countries mostly located in Eastern Europe, South America or Africa, with lower purchasing power than Spain, comprising most of the immigrating population, and those originating from northern European or other western countries with a higher GDP per capita than Spain.
Immigrants from Europe
Immigrants from Europe make up a growing proportion of immigrants in Spain. The main countries of origin are Romania, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Bulgaria.The British authorities estimate that the real population of British citizens living in Spain is much bigger than Spanish official figures suggest, establishing them at about 1,000,000, about 800,000 being permanent residents. Of these, according to the BBC and contrary to popular belief, only about 21.5% are over the age of 65.
In fact, according to the Financial Times, Spain is the most favoured destination for West Europeans considering to move from their own country elsewhere in the EU.
Social attitudes to immigration
Unlike other countries in the EU, Spain has not recorded any relevant anti-immigration about until fairly recently. According to some analysts, the causes behind this are multiple. Drawing from the experience of many Spaniards during the 1960s and then again in the beginning of the 21st century when the crisis struck the country, there may be also a collective understanding that hardships force people to seek work abroad.A January 2004 survey by Spanish newspaper El País showed that the "majority" of Spaniards believe immigration was too high. Small parties, such as Movimiento Social Español, openly campaign using nationalist or anti-immigrant rhetoric as do other small far-right parties such as National Democracy (Spain) and España 2000. These parties have never won national or regional parliamentary seats. However, while the far-right political party Vox has gained headlines for favouring tough stance against immigration, commentators have suggested that this has not translated into electoral success for them.
According to an October 2024 survey for the El País newspaper and Cadena SER radio station, 57% of Spaniards believe there is "too much" immigration to Spain.
Immigration by country of origin
Population by country of birth as of 1 January 2024:| Country | Population | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 MoroccoMajor immigrationThis chart shows the numbers and difference of foreign nationals in Spain after 2000. European Union member states are indicated with the EU flag in regional European sub-divisions. The number of Latin American immigrants decreased massively after 2009 mostly due to the naturalization of hundreds of thousands of these citizens who achieved the Spanish citizenship and therefore do not count as immigrants anymore on the official statistics. See the chart from below from the "Naturalizations" paragraph for further information.
|
ROMnts|6410 nts|317366 nts|831235 COLnts|25247 nts|271239 nts|292641 UKnts|99017 nts|227187 nts|387677